They Make Me Smile I Tell Ya!

(This sweet picture was taken by our photographer friend Mandy! She did an EXCELLENT job for our family photos! Click the photo and you will be directed to her website, so you can see more of her work! She is FABULOUS!)

I sure LOVE my kids! Today I was reminded of a sweet incident that I do not want to forget. Today my JB finished his lunch and I heard the water running. I said "Turn off that water!" JB said "I was just rinsing my plate Mom. I will turn it off after I rinse this last crumb." WOW! Gotta love that! What a nice surprise for my sweet boy to clean his plate.

The sweet memory this act brought to mind for me happened 2 Saturday's ago. Steve and I had an errand to run and a friend knew about it. She asked to keep the kids so that we could make the most of our errand time and we took her up on the offer. When I called to check in on the kids she said "I have to take a minute a brag on your kids! We were all eating sandwiches and JB finished his. HC got up and whispered something in JB's ear. JB immediately got up and took his plate and mine to the sink. Before I could say anything HC announced 'I taught him to be a gentleman for you.'"

My heart sang with pride! I mean - I teach them good habits but when the habits stick without my provoking them... that's when it seems the repetition is finally not for naught. I just had to take a minute and put this memory down on paper. :) I love being Mom! What an honor! And as a side note - I just pulled HC's 2nd tooth! This was my first go of tooth pulling and I was shockingly able. I usually cringe at the sight of a wobbly tooth so this was major progress for me! :)

ZOO DAY WITH DADDY!!!!

Today we visited the zoo with Daddy and saw a few cool creatures. We thought we would share some of our cool pics with you. Here we have the Tortoise. Snakes.
Toucan.
Stork. (Sure is an ugly one - we saw a prettier one too but I didn't snap a shot.)
Then we visited the birds and we found that Daddy has been hiding a special 'gift'.... he is.... THE BIRD WHISPERER.
Who knew?
He luckily left poo free. :)
A couple of minutes of fun in the Bamboo.
Then the kids finally rode the train! Praise Jesus - they FINALLY rode the train! :)
We were having BIG fun since Daddy was along for the fun.
We saw a few unique sites today - like these two were making out - their tales were even intertwined.
I've never seen the Rhino's walking around. They are usually laying around. This was a neat thing to see.
Camels.
The Giraffes were in rare form too. I love Giraffes. I can't decide if Giraffes are my ultimate favorite or...
if the Zebra's are my all time favorite.
Sleeping White Tiger.
Rarely do I see the Lions alert at all.
Meerkat - couldn't resist.
But I definitely love a good ole Bengal Tiger! GEAUX TIGERS! LSU!
Thanks for the fun idea Daddy! We've never had more fun at the zoo than when you join along in the fun! Loving the spring weather too!

Walking With The Dinosaurs

Tonight we went on a family adventure. We had a BLAST! I wasn't sure how strict they would be about taking pictures so I didn't tote my good camera along on this adventure. There was a fifty fifty chance we would not be allowed to use it, so that explains the gritty pictures. Here are me and HC, she enjoyed indulging in popcorn and most of all.... BLUE COTTON CANDY!! JB and Daddy - Daddy won tickets to this show by answering a question on the radio. Pretty cool huh?! What a smart Daddy HC and JB have! Thank you Daddy!
So here are a few glimpses of all the historic beasts we saw: Here is the Allosaurus on the left and the Stegosaurus on the right.
Here are two Brachiosaurus'.
They were HC's favorite - the long necked ones. They seemed less vicious and I think that is what makes them the most appealing to her.
This was HC and JB's LEAST favorite, the Pterosaur. JB kept telling Steve "I don't want that to fly by me."
Here are three Raptors eating another dinosaur carcass. HC kept saying "I feel sad for that dead dinosaur." See the Paleontologist in the picture? He was our narrator.
Here's the Torosaurus (with the spike coming out of it's ginormous head), a baby Tyrannosaurus, a Mommy one too, and finally a bumpy one with a large stone tail. The bumpy one was called an Ankylosaurus. The Torosaurus was JB's favorite.
Of course the Tyrannosaurus Rex Mommy and baby were the stars of the show - they nearly received a standing ovation. :)
Here are my two with the roaring dino teeth behind them.
What a fun night. Yay Daddy!

The End.